What a great series on old Asheville concerning events that were not long ago at all. Change is swift in this country. The latest trends are sometimes weekly and quarterly. We suggest that you publish the entire series of articles, “Looking Back 20 Years,” including the relevant letters to the editor. These articles, of course, […]
TAGS: avl-groove-1, avl-groove-2, avl-groove-3
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Thanks for the memories, Xpress
I’ve totally enjoyed the trip down memory lane in the last three issues of Mountain Xpress, and I’m grateful for having had the opportunity to be a small part of it back when. I know it’s always been a team effort at Mountain Xpress, but Jeff Fobes deserves mountains of credit for what he achieved […]
Love your anniversary issue
Love, love, love your “XX YEARS Anniversary Issue.” Living here since 1987 has indeed been a good ride, and the Greenline/Xpress has definitely figured into the mix. It’s so interesting and amusing to read the various takes from an assortment of writers, directors and outlaws. I particularly enjoyed reading Michael Plemmons’ story [“The Day Hazel Fobes […]
Saving the big red maple
When Council discussed ideas for renovating Pritchard Park downtown AT A DATE WORKSESSION, then-Mayor Russ Martin suggested using a 1940s trolley as a central piece to the park
The groove is gone, and history is small consolation
I truly enjoyed the last edition [Sept. 3] of Mountain Xpress. There was the sense of history, “been-there-done-that” and what it was and what it has become, but that is where my enjoyment ended. Asheville has become its own worst nightmare, becoming the land of wealthy bank accounts and Land Rovers. Although the aforementioned won’t realize it […]
A call to drums: A view of Asheville’s drum-circle history
I moved to Asheville in 1996 from Santa Barbara, Calif. We had a great drum circle community out there. Every Sunday at a park, down by the beach, from early afternoon until late in the night, we would gather and drum and dance and enjoy all the beauty there. I really missed the circle when […]
Remember when, Asheville?
Remember when Stone Soup was the happening place to be seen eating lunch and the Gilberts greeted you with a smile every day with their homemade bread and soups? Remember when Wall Street was deserted (no foot traffic)? Self -Help Credit Union, with the help of Julian Price (and other donors) helped to rehab the […]
It takes a village: How a cast of thousands transformed downtown Asheville
Moving from a wasteland of vacant, dirty streets, partial demolitions, lifeless buildings, and adult bookstores and theaters to the “top 10” lists in just about every category is truly a miracle. But we did it.
How Asheville became (and continues to be) the most exciting small city
Does anyone remember the early 1990s in Asheville, a time when Bill Clinton was president, Jim Hunt the governor of North Carolina, and there wasn’t a parking or traffic problem at all? Mountain Xpress wouldn’t come into being until 1994, the year before Gannett Co. bought out the Asheville Citizen-Times. Fine cuisine? Mark Rosenstein had […]
Asheville groove, part 3: Cherishing our sense of place
For well over a century, Asheville has attracted creative people. So, whatever good deeds have been done in the recent past should be seen as growing out of the incredible mountains around us and as gifts from prior generations, the Cherokees and hard-scrabble Southern Appalachian settlers and Asheville’s new urbanists from the mid-19th century onward. […]
French Broad Food Co-op played major role in Asheville
As a 40-year resident of Asheville, it’s been fun reading the reminiscences. But so far I’ve seen no mention of the role of the French Broad Food Co-op, and that needs to be corrected. When the co-op moved to Biltmore Avenue in 1991, the street was still mostly boarded up. There was a pool hall […]
How did Asheville find its groove? (part 2)
Ask anyone who’s lived or worked in Asheville since the ’80s or ’90s, and you’re likely to get a different answer. We offer some responses in this week’s retrospective, such as: • We faced key challenges from within local government. • We fought city hall. • We protected the environment. • We stood up for […]
Making a difference: a decade of activism
The ‘90s in Asheville were definitely a decade of activism — of all sorts. One of the earliest projects was the revitalization of downtown, which took courageous leadership. The Green Line (precursor of Mountain Xpress) was publishing; Asheville-Buncombe Discovery was promoting downtown; the LGBT community was awakening; the environmental movement was fighting back with protests and demonstrations. I was involved in several of these activities, so know of them first-hand.
Before we succumbed to the modern world
Downtown Asheville in the 1990s had a small-town America feel reminiscent of my own rural upbringing. You could count the chain stores on one hand, and quirky, lost-in-time businesses seemingly held dark, mysterious secrets ripped from the pages of a Southern Gothic novel.
Asheville: where I found myself
In 1994, Asheville was just a weekend place that I escaped to from Greenville, S.C., with my then husband, Blane Sherer. I thought it was just a getaway; I did not know I was looking for something, but I found it: Poetry.
The early days of Blue Spiral 1 and the best years of my life
I’d often arrive to open the building and have to step over a homeless man, curled up with his bottle, in the entrance vestibule.
The Gospel According to Jerry: Fighting city hall
From the level of scrutiny this project received, you’d have thought we were planning a neurosurgery facility instead of just a metal shell on a concrete pad in an industrial zone.
From housewife to activist to mayor
In late 1976, Asheville was quiet and downtown was mostly boarded up. We lived in Swannanoa and I got involved with the folks trying to close the Chemtronics plant. That was the start of my political activism.
Investing in downtown’s future through our children
A year ago, I happened upon a young father with his wife, two children and in-laws on the sidewalk on the corner at the Haywood Park Hotel. Standing behind them, I heard him share the history of the Flatiron Building. He pointed as he explained and they looked up in fascination.
The challenges we faced in the ’90s
The Mountain Xpress was born in a decade — the 1990s — that produced major challenges new to Asheville and Buncombe County. First challenge: Two large construction projects — a new jail and landfill — had been neglected because of their cost and unpopularity. Second challenge: A new source of drinking water was needed to […]
How did Asheville get its groove?
Given that everyone in Asheville seems to be marching to the beat of their own drum, how did we come together to form such a vibrant community? Are our individualistic tendencies a handicap, or have we learned to blend them into communal inspiration?